Improvement in plows



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN LANE, JR., OF LOOKPORT, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEM ENT IN PLOWS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. l 8,750, dated December l, 1F57.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN LANE,Jr., of Lockport, in the county ofVVill and State oflllinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Mode ofOonstructingSteel Plows, and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specilication, in which- Figure lis a plan or top view of asteel plow constructed after my improved mode. Fig. 2 s a side view of the landside of the same. Fig. 3 is a similar view, showing the landsidebar or foundation drawn out from its proper position. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan of the plowshare as constructed after my improved mode. Fig. 5 is a detached perspective view of the landside-bar and foundation of the plowshare. Figs. 6 and 7 are inverted views of an ordinary plow. Figs. S, 9, 10, and ll are diagrams for illustrating the superior utility of my invention over the ordinary mode of constructing plowshares.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several figures indicate corresponding parts.

My invention relates particularly to plowshares which present on all sides a steel sur face or exterior to the soil, and the nature of the improvement made by me consists, tirst, in a rigid foundation or frame constructed with a taper point and an inclined dange which projects nearly at right angles from the landside of the plow underneath the mold-board and lay, for use in combination with a yielding steel mold-board, a yielding steel lay, which has a complete yielding taper socket at its point, and with a steel landside-facng, as presently shown.

By having thefoundation or frame formed as stated it serves for perfectly support-in g the mold-board and lay and the steel landsideifacing and keeping the same in form, and like wise admits of theuse of a complete taper socket on the end ofthe lay, its pointserving as a mandrel whereon to bend the sheet-steel in forming the steel point of the lay, by using which form of socket, made and constructed thus, allnecessity of welding the lay to ashort bar which is bolted to the landside is avoided, and thus expense in manufacturing reduced; and the socket thus formed is a much more effective means than the ordinary lock, as in Jewetts plow, for keeping the point of 1andside-bar in place, it being impossible with the socket for it to change its position, whereas with the lock it not unfrequently springs and shifts its place, the bolts wearingand allowing this. And while these advantages result from the socket, greater advantages result from the construction of the foundation or fra-me, this construction giving a rigidity to the whole structure when completed, although made of steel; and in case the lay should, while removed and being sharpened, or the moldboard under undue strain at certain points be sprung out. of form, the original form of the plowshare will always be retained, as the foundation is unyielding, and therefore all that is necessary under the circnmstancesjust named is to adjust the lay and mold-board to the frame and screw up the bolts until the former conform to the latter, which will always he the case, because the coupling-brace and the Harige prevent the landside-bar twistingin the socket of the lay and conforming to the form of the same andthe mold-board.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use rnyinvention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents the landside-bar; E, the taper point; F, the inclined iange projecting nearly at right angles from the upper edge of the landside-har, underneath the moldboard and lay; B, the mold-board; G, the lay; D, the long taper socket on the lay, G G', the brace and coupling iron, made in one'piece; H, the steel landside-facing.

The point E on the landsideis made of taper form, with three sides. The point E thus formed is made to serve as a mandrel whereon to form the socket D, which is the full length of the point, which is formed by bending the sheet-steel around the mandrel taper point, as shown in Fig. 4. The steel thus bent around requires no welding, and the socket formed is complete at top, bottoni, and on -the landside of the plow.

To the flange F the moldboard and lay are screwed, as shown in Figs. l and 4. The coupling G serves for uniting the lay and moldboard, while the brace serves for combining them with the foundation or frame, and by thus uniting them by a couplingdron and brace formed of one piece, as in Fig. 10, instead of in two pieces, as in Fig. 9, there is no chance for the coupling to shift or move independent of Vot' forming the lock of the lay and landside by welding the lay to a short piece of iron, c, which is bolted to the landside-bar; and in Fig. 7, at d, may be seen the difficulty to be encountered from this method. rlhis dittlculty results from the bolts wearingand becoming loose and allowing the iron and lay to drop or pull down, as shown in Fig. 7, and the plow consequently to run deeper and badly, and causing a bad joint at e, which will cause the plow to clog and hold the soil.

, The advantages ofmy improvementare very great,although thechanges made are seemingly slight.

There are many places in the .west that the plow is obliged to be made all ot'steel in its working part; and, again, there must be no shoulder or one piece overlapping the other, as is seen in the plow of Ira Reynolds, 1855.

Plows of steel are very liable to be warped and sprung from place and shape in sharpeir ing the lay and in plowing in ground which is stony or filled with roots; and many devices have been resorted to to keep the lay in its place; but none of them accomplish the object as well as mine, which not only keeps the lay in proper place, but it it is warped or sprung in being sharpened it will be correctly brought in place wh en secured to the plow by the taperpointed and flanged landside-bar and combined brace and coupling-iron.

The sociket in my method being long and completely incasing the taper end of the landside-bar, it is impossible that the lay shall spring up or down at this point without bending the landside, which is not possible, owing to its rigidity, whereas when the lay is only locked on the landside by a part of a notch or socket, as in the plow ot Gill, 1855, and others of like arrangement, these difiiculties are not unfrequently experienced.

What I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The rigid foundation or frame, when constructed withataper point and inclined flange which projects nearly at right angles from the landside of the plow underneath the moldboard and lay, for use in combination with a yieldin g mold-board, ayielding steellay which has a complete taper socket at its point, and with a steel landside-'acing, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

Vitnesses: JOHN LANE, JR.

J. D. Loon/1ER, C. A. WELCH. 

